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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ISTANBUL 000329
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
DEPT FOR G/TIP; SKOPJE FOR LEGAD CARLIN; BUCHAREST FOR
SECI/STURM
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: TUBOMDPHUMKCRMPGOVKJUSTIPINTURKEY
SUBJECT: MUNICIPALITY TO FUND ISTANBUL TIP SHELTER, BUT
PROSECUTORS DOWNPLAY GRAVITY OF TIP ISSUE
REF: A. ANKARA 591
¶B. ISTANBUL 38
¶C. 04 MINSK 1721
¶1. Summary and comment: In recent Istanbul meetings on
trafficking in persons (TIP), G/TIP officer Jennifer Donnelly
discussed the upcoming TIP report and Turkey's Tier 2 watch
list placement with Istanbul prosecutors, municipal and
governorate officials and the leading Turkish NGO on TIP
issues. While the secretary general of the Istanbul
municipality confirmed another year of funding for the
Istanbul TIP shelter run by HRDF, he implied that the
municipality did not wish to continue supporting the shelter
indefinitely. Istanbul Chief Prosecutor Engin asserted to
Donnelly that Turkey's role in trafficking is only as a
transit, not a source country, and complained that
cooperation from source countries has been insufficient to
combat the problem globally. Bakirkoy and Istanbul public
prosecutors downplayed separately to Donnelly and Skopje
Legal Advisor Carlin the number of TIP cases in Istanbul,
noting that most TIP victims were not involuntary, and
bristled at the U.S. focus on Turkey's TIP problems.
Comment: Although the new shelter for trafficking victims in
Istanbul is at full capacity, the prosecutors in Istanbul are
downplaying the problem. End summary and comment.
Municipality Confirms Continued Funding for Shelter
¶2. (SBU) In meetings January 27 with Istanbul prosecutors,
municipal and governorate officials and the leading Turkish
NGO on TIP issues, G/TIP foreign affairs officer for Eurasia
Jennifer Donnelly discussed the upcoming TIP report and
Turkey's placement on the Tier 2 watch list. Accompanying
Donnelly on the meetings were Ankara DAO Col. Smith, FBI
Senior Advisor at SECI Stuart Sturm, and Istanbul poloffs.
The Secretary General of the Istanbul Metropolitan
Municipality, Prof. Dr. Ramazan Evren, was the bearer of good
news. He confirmed to Donnelly that in line with the
protocol signed in 2004 between the municipality and the
Human Resources Development Foundation (HRDF), the NGO
focusing on TIP issues in Istanbul, the municipality will
continue to financially support the TIP shelter run by HRDF
after the current municipality-funded one-year lease expires
in June 2005. He reassured Donnelly that the municipality's
support is not temporary, and that the municipality is
committed to work with HRDF to deal with TIP victims.
However, Evren's statement that it is essential for NGOs to
develop the necessary resources to become financially
independent (referred to in the municipality's report on the
visit in their website, www.ibb.gov.tr) implied that the
municipality's financial support of the shelter will not
continue indefinitely.
Shelter at Full Capacity
¶3. (SBU) Newly-appointed HRDF Director Berna Eren and
shelter project coordinator Tuba Dundar briefed Donnelly on
the activities of HRDF's TIP shelter, the first and only
shelter in Turkey, which opened in November 2004 after
signing a protocol with the municipality, which paid the
first year's rent. HRDF has also received funding for the
shelter from Phillip Morris. The shelter is on the top floor
of an apartment building in Taksim; in order to protect the
privacy of the victims, no visitors are allowed and the
location is kept secret (Eren said she herself has not seen
the shelter). Since the shelter opened, it has been at full
capacity, housing a maximum of 11-12 victims. Four HRDF
employees work in the shelter, including two Turkish citizen
housing counselors of Russian origin and one of
Molodovan/Bulgarian origin who are on duty at all times.
(Dundar commented that most of the victims treated at the
shelter to date have been of Moldovan and Ukrainian origin.)
The counselors understand the Turkish bureaucracy, so are
able to counsel the victims. Before entering the shelter,
the police take statements from the victims. One HRDF
counselor from the shelter participates in the initial
interview, but no one from the shelter accompanies the victim
to the police.
¶4. (SBU) Shelter coordinator Dundar told Donnelly that HRDF
provides a homelike environment for the victims in the
shelter; if the victims have health problems, they are taken
to hospitals and treated by psychologists. HRDF Board
Chairman Turgut Tokus said in a later meeting that at least
one victim had been referred to a mental health hospital on
the recommendation of the shelter psychologist. The Ministry
of Health issued a circular to all state hospitals ensuring
that victims of trafficking will be treated free of charge.
Victims can stay at the shelter for more than a week,
particularly those with serious psychological problems, such
as some who have tried to commit suicide by jumping out of
buildings. Some victims have stayed over two months,
including one Iranian woman. Since the shelter opened in
November 2004 until late January 2005, it has assisted 32
victims of trafficking, some of whom are still in the
shelter. Dundar noted that Turkey issues a humanitarian
visa to victims of trafficking for those who are repatriated.
IOM prepares the safe return of the victims, including
providing passports and tickets, and contacting the home
country to arrange their reception at a specific city.
HRDF: Good Cooperation with Police and MinInt
¶5. (SBU) According to HRDF Director Eren, HRDF has excellent
cooperation with law enforcement authorities and the Ministry
of Interior. HRDF has conducted five training courses in TIP
with prosecutors, judges, and police officers, and has made
TIP agreements with the jandarma and with the police. Eren
welcomed FBI Senior Advisor Sturm's suggestion that HRDF set
up a videoconferencing facility to assist in prosecution of
those who involved in trafficking, in order to protect the
victim's privacy. He described a successful pilot program
the FBI has implemented using videoconferencing, in which the
trafficked woman did not talk with the police, but did speak
to the camera.
¶6. (SBU) HRDF has 8 full-time project officers and staff in
the Istanbul/Taksim office, as well as part-time project
coordinators. In addition to its Taksim office, HRDF has a
social center in Golcuk, and project offices both in the
Sisli district of Istanbul and in Ankara. HRDF is the
leading NGO in Turkey working on TIP, but has a network with
other NGOs. In addition to TIP, HRDF's programs have
assisted 400,000 women in the area of reproductive health,
and 7,500 refugees.
¶7. (SBU) Donnelly's meeting at the Governor's office was less
productive, because the human rights chairperson at the
Istanbul Governor's office, Vildan Yirmibesoglu, was not
well-briefed on the TIP problem in Istanbul. A lawyer who
had worked on womens' rights issues for 13 years in the
mayor's office in Gaziantep, Yirmibesoglu was familiar with
the six Istanbul shelters for street children and women who
had been sexually assaulted, run by the municipality and by
the social services division of the governor's office, but
had no information on the HRDF shelter.
Istanbul Chief Prosecutor: Turkey only a Transit Country
¶8. (SBU) Meeting with Istanbul Chief Prosecutor Aykut Engin,
Donnelly noted that TIP is a human rights issue, and
discussed Turkey's placement on Tier Two of the watch list.
Engin agreed that trafficking in persons is one of the most
serious violations of human rights, and his office was
determined to do what it could to combat TIP. Engin noted
that Turkey has started a determined campaign to combat
trafficking, and that in 2002 the penal code was amended to
include trafficking -- proving Turkey's determination. While
some countries criticize Turkey for their lack of action in
the TIP area, Engin stressed that many countries have more
serious TIP problems than Turkey.
¶9. (SBU) Engin claimed that Turkey's role in trafficking is
only as a transit, not a source, country. Turkey has been
placed in an unfortunate position due to its geography: all
source countries are neighbors with or close to Turkey.
Because the former Soviet republics are in a state of
economic crisis, their residents want to emigrate -- and
the demand for cheap labor is one of the main causes of
trafficking. He believed that many of those from former
Soviet republics who stay in Turkey do so willingly, to
engage in prostitution. Others are victims of organized
crime brought to Turkey by force. Engin did not think that
TIP in Istanbul was related to drug trade. He stressed that
cooperation from source countries is essential to reduce the
problem, but source country efforts to date have been
insufficient to combat the problem globally.
¶10. (SBU) Engin noted that human trafficking must be
distinguished from illegal immigration, an overlapping
problem in Turkey. The Istanbul district has handled 21
incidents of trafficking in person and 95 cases of illegal
immigration since the penal code was amended in 2002. It
takes a long time to reach a verdict in TIP cases: of the 21
cases, only 4 have been resolved in the Istanbul court; 3 or
4 were sent to other courts, and the remaining were still
ongoing. The Istanbul prosecutor's office informs embassies
of source countries about the cases. If the victims are in
Turkey voluntarily, they usually are sent back to their
countries. If the victims were brought to Turkey by force,
they are referred to a psychologist; such cases are outside
the jurisdiction of the Istanbul prosecutor's office and are
generally referred to the governor's office. Deportations
are the responsibility of administrative divisions of
Istanbul -- they are not the job of the prosecutor's office.
Engin stressed that source countries do not help Turkey
resolve TIP cases, because they often do not want victims
repatriated and do not provide enough money to send them back
(including visa/hotel/transportation costs). Turkey thus
faces huge expenses in repatriating the victims. He
commented that if the other countries involved would
cooperate with Turkey, the problem would not have reached
such dimensions.
¶11. (SBU) Engin responded positively to the suggestion of
Stuart Sturm, senior advisor at SECI, to introduce
videoconferencing to the prosecutors' office to assist in TIP
cases. While videoconferencing would be useful, Engin noted
that such a decision would have to be made at a higher level
in Ankara. Engin said that the prosecutor's office already
has a judicial program with SECI; he himself participated in
a seminar in the U.S. on freedom of thought and prosecutor
relations.
¶12. (SBU) Bakirkoy prosecutor Ergezen, handling the
indictment of four men in connection with a TIP-related
suicide of a Belarusian woman in Bakirkoy, met with Donnelly
January 27 and with TIP speaker Barbara Carlin, Resident
Legal Advisor to Embassy Skopje, February 11. He shared
with Donnelly the documents on the indictment of four men in
connection with the case of Belarusian citizen Vera Krivenia,
who he said died in the hospital after jumping out of the
window. Nadia, one of the two other TIP victims sharing an
apartment with Krivenia, witnessed the incident. Ergezen
asserted Turkey is a democratic country, and victims are not
pressured by the police. He noted that penalties for
TIP-related crimes causing trauma are heavy: 5-10 years for
trafficking, 1-5 years for limiting freedom, and 1-3 years
for encouraging prostitution -- all of which could be added
together, leading to a 25 year sentence. (Note: Under the
revised penal code taking effect April 1, 2005, these
penalties will be increased, including 8-12 years for
trafficking.)
¶13. (SBU) Ergezen stressed to both Donnelly and Carlin that
the crime rate in Istanbul is low for a city of 16 million,
compared to that in large cities in other countries.
According to Ergezen, the Bakirkoy prosecutor's district
handles the largest number of TIP cases in Turkey, followed
by Ankara, Izmir, and the Istanbul districts of Kadikoy and
Sultanahmet. Both Ergezen and Istanbul prosecutor Yelkenci
downplayed the number of TIP cases in Istanbul, noting that
most TIP victims were not involuntary, and that illegal
immigration was the greater problem in Istanbul. They also
bristled at the U.S. focus on Turkey's TIP problems, asking
why we are not pressing France, Italy and Spain on the TIP
issue.
¶14. (U) This cable has been cleared by Embassy Ankara.
ARNETT